Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $9.98 Million Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 140,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,900 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $9,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Griffon by 228.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 42,934 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Griffon by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 76,213 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,335,000 after acquiring an additional 19,291 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its holdings in Griffon by 125.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 9,701 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Griffon by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $108,914,000 after acquiring an additional 61,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barington Capital Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. now owns 30,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $279,697.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $75.70 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.23 and its 200 day moving average is $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90 and a beta of 1.43. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.01 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Griffon Company Profile

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications.